Want to lose that extra weight?
You are asking the wrong question
This question is quite misleading because we don’t want to lose weight exactly. We want to lose fat. When someone loses weight, they either lose muscle mass, fat, or water weight. In this case, we don’t want to lose muscle mass because it gives you strength to do many activities and makes you fit. So, we only want to lose fat. In order to do that we must understand some fundamental concepts given below.
Maintenance Calories
To lose weight we need to burn more calories than we eat. The first step is to find our maintenance calories (the calories needed to sustain our current physique). We can do this by using websites online. We simply need to type in our age, weight, height, and physical activity level and it will calculate our maintenance calories. An example of one of these websites-https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/calorie-calculator/itt-20402304
Calorie Deficit
Once we get our maintenance calories, we can create a calorie deficit.
Intake of calories > outtake of calories (caloric surplus) (gaining weight)
Intake of calories < outtake of calories (caloric deficit) (losing weight)
A calorie deficit is BURNING MORE CALORIES THAN YOU EAT. This deficit should not be more than 500 calories. Any more than this can have adverse effects on our body. Generally, a deficit of 200-300 calories is preferred. For example, if my maintenance calories are 2500 calories, I would have an intake of 2200 calories or I would increase my caloric output by 300 calories. This calorie deficit can be created in 2 ways:
1) Increasing Physical Activity
Increasing physical activity: You can increase your physical activity, which will increase your caloric output, and keep your diet the same. But generally, when becoming healthier you would want to eat healthy food and have a clean diet. You can eat the same amount of food in calories but just increase your physical activity. For beginners or people who don’t exercise regularly, this is the best choice. Because doing physical exercise is easier than dieting down. We often feel tired or don’t have that much energy when we are dieting down. Increasing physical activity would be going to the gym or working out at home or running around your neighbourhood. Increasing your physical activity will also keep you healthy. As time progresses you can proceed to step 2 if you have not already gotten to your optimal weight or body fat level.
2) Reducing Calorie Intake/ Dieting Down
Reducing calorie Intake/ dieting down: If you regularly exercise and cannot lose weight, it’s probably because your diet is not in check. Generally, this is a better option for older people because increasing physical activity can cause more injuries and pain in joints for old people (60 and above) To diet down you can start eating healthier and more satiating food (the kinds of food that make you feel full or satiated for a smaller number of calories). Some satiating foods are
o Oatmeal,
o Beans
o Lentils.
o Eggs
Then, you can reduce the amount of food you consume to reduce your calorie intake to create a deficit. Remember while dieting down keep up the same amount of physical activity.
Tracking your calories
You must be asking yourself “how should I track my calories.” Most of your calories can be tracked by looking at the back of food items or you can search it up on google. This method can give you a rough estimate of how many calories you are consuming. If you eat outside regularly you can find the calories for each dish on the menu. Athletes who compete in bodybuilding competitions often use food scales to calculate their caloric intake for a meal. A food scale can also be used to weigh the ingredients before making the meal.
Retaining muscle mass while losing weight
Remember the first sentence of this blog post, how do we lose fat and not muscle mass? Well as you lose fat you are inevitably going to lose muscle mass. But we can try to minimize the loss. First, we must preserve muscle mass by doing resistance training. This training can be in the form of lifting weights or calisthenics. By using your muscles, you will decrease the chance of losing muscle mass. Secondly, we should eat protein in a surplus to maintain muscle mass. We should consume 0.7-1 gram of protein per pound of body mass to preserve muscle. Generally, the range is 90-150 gm. If you do these 2 things, you will minimize your muscle mass loss during a calorie deficit. Staying in a calorie deficit for a long time can have detrimental effects. One should not stay in deficit for more than 6 months.
Now you are ready to start your fitness journey with all the information you need. Good luck and don’t forget to take your time on this journey and enjoy every bit of it. Remember time is your biggest ally!
On to the next.
-Akash Gaonkar-
The content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only and is not professional medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or care, nor is it intended to be a substitute therefore.
